英特尔12.5亿美元了结AMD反垄断诉讼

Intel sought to quell a rising tide of complaints over its business practices as it agreed yesterday to pay $1.25bn to settle a private antitrust lawsuit from rival chipmaker Advanced Micro Devices.

英特尔(Intel)试图平息对其商业行为日渐增多的指控。该公司昨日同意支付12.5亿美元，了结竞争对手AMD公司(Advanced Micro Devices)提起的反垄断诉讼。

The settlement of the dispute between the two chip companies ends one of the longest- running and most heated disagreements in US business.

这两家芯片公司解决彼此纠纷，结束了美国商界历时最长且最为激烈的争端之一。

AMD, which is virtually Intel's only rival in making the microprocessors used in PCs and many low-cost servers, has long complained that its much bigger rival uses unfair methods to prevent computer makers buying its chips.

AMD几乎是英特尔在个人电脑及许多低成本服务器所用的微处理器领域唯一的竞争对手。长期以来，该公司一直指控规模大得多的英特尔利用不公平手段，阻止电脑制造商购买它的芯片。

Those complaints, which Intel denies, have already led to regulatory action against the company in Japan, South Korea and the European Union, and last week brought a lawsuit from Andrew Cuomo, New York attorney-general. The new Federal Trade Commission, which has promised a more aggressive approach to antitrust enforcement than its predecessor, has also begun an investigation of its own.

英特尔一直否认这些指控，但这些指控已经导致日本、韩国及欧盟(EU)采取了针对该公司的监管行动，上周美国纽约州司法部长安德鲁•库默(Andrew Cuomo)也对其提起公诉。新的美国联邦贸易委员会(Federal Trade Commission)也展开了自己的调查，该委员会承诺将比前任进行更为凌厉的反垄断执法。

Legal experts warned that the settlement would do little to stop spreading regulatory action against Intel, the world's biggest maker of microprocessors. Europe this year imposed a record €1.06bn ($1.57bn) fine on the company.

法律专家警告称，上述和解协议对于阻止日益扩大的针对全球最大微处理器制造商的监管行动作用不大。欧洲今年对英特尔处以创纪录的10.6亿欧元（合15.7亿美元）罚款。

Regulators on both sides of the Atlantic signalled that, while they would look at the AMD settlement, the agreement would not change their own scrutiny of Intel's behaviour.

欧美监管者均发出信号称，尽管他们会考虑AMD的和解协议，但该协议不会改变他们自己对英特尔行为的严密审查。

As part of the settlement, Intel said that it had undertaken not to engage in some of the practices it has been accused of by AMD and regulators. These include promising discounts to PC makers only if they refuse to buy chips from AMD or hold back the launch of machines carrying AMD products.

作为和解协议的一部分，英特尔表示，它已经承诺不会从事AMD和监管机构所指控的部分行为，包括只有个人电脑制造商拒绝购买AMD芯片或延后推出采用AMD产品的机器，它才承诺提供折扣。

Intel denied yesterday that it had bullied AMD in this way, and said that it had only given the undertakings as a way to resolve the legal dispute. Paul Otellini, chief executive, also said it had agreed to the massive payment to reduce the risk of the court case, which might have led to a much bigger judgment, and said that Intel maintained it had done nothing wrong.

英特尔昨日否认曾以这种方式欺压AMD，表示它做出上述承诺只是为了解决法律纠纷。该公司首席执行官欧德宁(Paul Otellini)还表示，英特尔同意支付大笔款项是为了减少法庭诉讼的风险（法庭诉讼可能会导致金额大得多的判决），并称英特尔坚持认为自己没有任何不当行为。